(FORT PIERCE INLET, Fla.) — The Coast Guard was combing the waters off eastern Florida Tuesday afternoon, looking for 39 people on a boat that capsized.
The vessel may have been part of a “human smuggling venture,” the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard said it had received a report from a good Samaritan who rescued a man clinging to the vessel, roughly 45 miles east of Fort Pierce Inlet, around 8 a.m.
The survivor said he left Bimini, Bahamas, on Saturday night, and that their boat encountered turbulent weather. No one was wearing a life jacket, according to the survivor.
Coast Guard boats and aircraft were searching throughout the morning, and as of 4 p.m. Tuesday, no other survivors had been discovered.
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